A new “Buy American” push in President Barack Obama's economic stimulus plan is sparking protests about protectionism from US businesses and trading partners. Obama has pushed for swift passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act as vital to prevent the collapse of the fragile US economy as it reels from the global financial crisis. The stimulus plan passed with a “Buy American” provision generally prohibiting the purchase of foreign iron and steel for any stimulus-funded infrastructure project. The massive tax cuts and spending package has moved to the Senate, where lawmakers are working on their own version that extends the “Buy American” initiative beyond the House's iron and steel mandates to include all US manufactured goods. The sweep of infrastructure projects is broad, from roads, rail, bridges, airports and dams to military construction and housing, among others. Leading business interests warned that trade wars could be sparked by the measure, making the bad economy slump even further. “Since 95 percent of the world's consumers live outside the United States, American workers would be the first to suffer as ‘Buy American' provisions trigger retaliation by other countries - that is, ‘Buy German,' ‘Buy Chinese,' and so on,” said Chris Braddock of the US Chamber of Commerce. Braddock said similar trade wars sparked the Great Depression. Under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Canada sells about 40 percent of its steel to its southern neighbor. It is a “serious concern to us,” he said, and so “we're joining with all countries in the world to insist that the United States respect its WTO (World Trade Organization) commitments.”
